France looks to open-source in challenge to Microsoft

Civil Service Minister Renaud Dutreil told Reuters that France wants to use open-source software providers to resupply part of the almost 1 million state computers under a government cost-cutting drive designed to trim a bulging public deficit.

The use of open-source software such as Linux, OpenOffice, Mozilla, Apache, MySQL and Evolution is \"very credible,\" Dutreil said.

\"This decision will allow us to increase our presence in France,\" said Jacques Le Marois, president of the French open-source software company MandrakeSoft SA. \"This will also help us sell our solutions to other governments.\"

Marois said he believes the German, Israeli and Malaysian governments also envision moving to open-source software.

[url]http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/software/story/0,10801,93946,00.html?from=homeheads [/url]